Girls Making History

Currently only 17% of the technology workforce is female and this figure is decreasing by 0.5% each year. Girls Making History aims to encourage young women into technology through a series of projects.

Girls Making History presents solutions to the low numbers of girls and young women currently choosing technology pathways, by offering a series of engaging and specially designed projects [1].

Knowing The Signs – Stage Two

The number of domestic violent relationships in young people is alarmingly high – and a recent report found 1 in 2 women in Britain have been physically or sexually assaulted. Almost 1 in 3 girls experience unwanted sexual touching at school.[2]

Knowing the Signs focuses on creating technology that can be used to raise awareness of the cultural normalisation of partner violence in teenage relationships and social networks.

During the second phase of this action-led participatory research project we collaborated with University of Bristol, organisations and experts from across the city. The project harnessed the expertise of young women and their direct experience of violence and coercive control in their relationships to develop digital prototypes that could potentially support teenage girls at risk of, or already in the early stages of, abusive relationships.

The fifteen young women aged 13 – 24 wanted to encourage other young people to recognise when relationships become unhealthy. Working with artists, creative technologists and engineers they have co-designed prototyped a game and a piece of ‘wearable techology’. The wearable also works as a safety device and will link to an app that highlights unhealthy behaviours and support mechanisms, enabling young people to recognise the signs and take action to make positive changes in their lives.

We are currenlty seeking funding to test and create a working prototype of the wearble device which links to a bespoke app. So change makers out there – we want to hear from you!

Girls’ Coding Sessions

In December 2015 we ran some free coding sessions for girls, where they could learn more about coding and building their own websites, apps and programmes. We’re planning more sessions in 2016; contact Sandra for more details about getting involved.

Chloe, 13, attended a Control-Alt-Delete coding sessions aimed specifically at young women; she said: “My brother codes and told me that I wouldn’t be able to do it, but I can!”